


The world without you

by will_i_am_solace



Category: The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan, percy jackson - Fandom
Genre: Fake Character Death, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-17
Updated: 2015-12-17
Packaged: 2018-05-07 07:04:29
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,314
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5447564
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/will_i_am_solace/pseuds/will_i_am_solace
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When a certain son of Hades feels useless once again, he gets a visit from the God of Truth who shows him...well, the truth</p>
            </blockquote>





	The world without you

Nico awoke in his bed when it was still dark out. 

He rubbed his eyes tiredly with a yawn and smiled at the still sleeping blond next to him. Will and him had been dating for a few years now and the relationship was still going strong. Nico simply couldn't believe he had been so lucky to have someone like Will.

He sat up, hugging his knees to his chest and looked out the window at the still dark sky. Even though he and Will had been together for a while now, he still got thoughts about whether it really mattered if he existed or not. Sure, Will had nightmares and his own demons to fight and Nico helped him with them. But Nico still felt like anybody could've helped Will with those. Nobody needed him. There was nothing Nico did that couldn't be done by anyone else. 

Nico sighed and was about to lie back down when a light flashed through the cabin. Nico squinted and shielded his eyes from the light until it died down. In its placed was Apollo.

Apollo held his arms open in an extravagant gesture and grinned "Nico! How are ya kid?!" He said very loudly. Nico shushed him and turned back to make sure Will hadn't been woken which thankfully, he hadn't. He loved the son of Apollo but he really needed to practice what he preached and not overwork himself. Nico turned back to Apollo and raised an eyebrow 

"I'm quite fine Apollo, why are you here?" The god clucked his tongue, tilting his head at Nico.

"You sure you're fine? Not thinking about how a certain world would be without a certain you?" He asked, moving closer to Nico. His tone was serious for once but gentle. Nico frowned and said nothing.

Apollo stepped closer to him and held out his hand "Come on, there's something I'd like to show you" he said. Nico glanced at Will hesitantly. The god seemingly read his thoughts "He'll be fine while you're gone, I'll bring you back soon enough. There's just something you need to see" 

Nico sighed and took Apollo's hand, shoving his other one in his pocket "Just make it quick you big sunflower" he muttered. 

Apollo ignored the jab and pulled Nico through a wall of bright light.

\--------------------------------------

Nico opened his eyes and blinked a few times in disbelief. He was on Half Blood Hill, facing the camp. Or what was left of the camp. The entire area was smoking, a few fires scattered here and there among the ruins. The ruins. 'Oh gods' Nico thought in horror as he scanned the sight. The cabins were destroyed, no sign of the big house at all except for a pile of ash, the lake was just a giant crater. There was nothing left of the camp.

Nico took a step forward and stopped abruptly looking at the ground. Bodies were everywhere. Roman and Greek. The faces were fuzzy so he couldn't make out who they were but it was disturbing nonetheless. He turned to Apollo who was gazing at the site solemnly. 

Before Nico could ask, Apollo began to speak,

"This is the first place we're visiting. You helped with the Athena Parthenos, remember kid? Without it, the Greeks and Romans went to war. None of them ended up winning in the end. The monsters and Ms Earth got to 'em first"

Nico turned back to the ruins, stricken "Hazel...Will..." he croaked out. Apollo gestured to the ruins 

"Probably somewhere under that stuff" he said, sadness in his eyes. Nico swallowed thickly and stepped forward, hand outstretched, curiously. He hadn't taken more than one step until he hit some sort of wall and the entire scene rippled as if it was a reflection in a pool. He turned to Apollo questioningly.

"Every future I show you is uncertain, since there are events that could've changed them. Mostly involving you" he said, giving Nico a pointed look. Nico shifted on his feet uneasily 

"But some of them don't." He finished, still slightly unconvinced of his worth. Apollo gave an exasperated sigh and grabbed Nico's hand 

"Okay, I'll show you what would've happened to Will if you didn't exist yet the Athena Parthenos was delivered in time." He huffed and dragged Nico into another bright wall of light.

\-----------------------------

When Nico opened his eyes this time the scene was all two familiar. The sounds of the Battle of Gaea raged on in the background but Nico only focused on the scene in front of him.

Octavian was there with the onager, and just like the original time, his cape was stuck in the mechanism.

Nico watched as Will ran into the clearing- alone- and the conversation that they had had went on as usual, minus Nico.

Soon enough Will noticed Octavian cape was caught-

"Octavian your-" Will started to say. Octavian simply waved him off, too focused on the onager and set a hand on the lever, ready to launch.

"Octavian wait!" Will started and ran towards to stop him. 

Octavian finally took his attention off the onager whirling around to face Will "Ack! Get away from me, you graeceus scum!" Octavian yelled, drawing his sword to 'defend' himself.

Nico's eyes widened and he ran forward, forgetting for a second that this wasn't real. He got farther than he did last time but he still collided into a rippling wall. Before he could see what happened Apollo covered his eyes, leaving him without his sight but he was still able to hear everything.

"Come on kid." Apollo said quietly, the tone of his voice confirming Nico's fear. Apollo stepped back into another wall of light, pulling Nico with him.

Nico wasn't sure if he would ever stop hearing sound of the sword hitting it's target.

\---------------------------------------

When Apollo finally removed his hand Nico saw another familiar sight. They were in the infirmary.

Patients were everywhere and the Apollo kids were in a frenzy. Nico's eyes caught onto a familiar mop of blond hair who was rushing back and forth between the patients. He would help wrap up and hand out ambrosia to the campers with less serious injuries. When he came across one with a potentially fatal one- which was every 1 in 10- he would heal them. 

Nico watched with increasing worry as Will kept working himself and using his power. He started to notice Will was getting more clumsy, bags starting to form rapidly under his eyes, his skin starting to get paler than Nico's. 

It was two hours after when Will's shift should've ended when Nico snapped. Real or not, Will was going to kill himself. He marched up to Will and was able to get to about one foot away from him when he collided into the wall again. 

He growled in frustration and watched helplessly as Will healed one final patient before promptly collapsing in a small heap. He watched as his siblings rushed to his aid but even Nico knew it was too late for him. 

He sank to his knees, pressing himself against the wall and tried to keep his tears in.

"Why?! Why are you showing me this?!" He yelled at Apollo who was looking at him sympathetically

"I'm trying to show you things that would've happened if you didn't exist" he answered as if it made all the sense in the world. Nico felt like punching the god.

"Ya, well, this still could've been prevented without me seeing how there's a schisty wall here" he spat. Apollo sighed and grabbed Nico by the shoulder, pulling him up.

"Well come on then, there's still more to see" he replied and pulled Nico into another bright wall of light, ignoring Nico's protests.

\-------------------------------------

Nico opened his eyes to find himself in the Apollo cabin, at what seemed to be midnight, judging by the sleeping Apollo kids and dark sky.

Nico saw Will in one of the bunks and gently walked over to him, surprised to see no rippling wall had stopped him. He crouched down by the bed and reached a hand out gently to brush it through the golden locks.

Before he could though, Will bolted upright in bed, breathing heavily, his eyes wide and terrified. Nico jumped at first but soon regained his composure, recognizing all too well what was happening. Will had had a nightmare.

Will got up from where he was and put on his flip flops before hurrying out the Apollo cabin door, into the night.

Nico blinked and suddenly they were in the forest. He watched as Will came running over and sat on the ground hugging his knees to his chest. It was then, that the blond started shaking and heartbreaking sobs were heard. 

Nico's heart clenched in his chest and he walked over, sitting next to Will, reaching out to put a hand on his shoulder, only to have his hand fall through, as if he was a ghost. 

He cursed and glared at Apollo "Really? What is the point of this? This clearly could have not happened if I wasn't here." Apollo clucked his tongue and crossed his arms.

"Did you hit a wall?"

"Well, no but-"

"Then this certainly would've happened if you weren't here. Your hand fell through because this is just a vision"

Nico fought down a blush at his mistake and turned to the sobbing blond, not saying anything. He thought over the time Will decided to tell him about his nightmares. Actually, he never actually told him on purpose, he had accidentally woken Nico up with his crying. Even then he had been too stubborn to tell Nico what was wrong, still insisting he was fine. But Nico was more stubborn and eventually got Will to tell him, realizing that Will hadn't told anyone else, wanting to be strong for his family and friends. 

Apollo continued to speak,

"All the situations I showed you would've happened if you didn't exist. Ya sure, somebody else could've done it, but nobody did. You did. You were the one who took the time and effort to make sure these things didn't happen. Even in the vision versions you still tried to stop what was happening. That was all you, kiddo, you're needed and wanted in this world, and I'm very pleased that your my son in law."

Nico opened his mouth to deny the son in law thing but stopped, thinking over the rest of what Apollo just said. He had to admit, he had made sure none of that stuff happened. He thought back to before when he and Will were cuddled up in the bed with not a care in the world and suddenly Nico was very glad he made the choices he did. 

He stood up, taking one last painful glance at Will before walking over to Apollo 

"I understand now, take me back."

Apollo grinned at him and took Nico's hand

"One more thing" he said pulling Nico into another wall of light.

\---------------------------------

Nico found himself in what seemed to be the Hephaestus cabin. He saw a younger version of Jake Mason reading what seemed to be a repair manual. 

He was about to turn to Apollo and voice his confusion when the door flew open with a bang, loud enough that Jake dropped his manual.

Standing there in the doorway was 11 year old, gap toothed, Will Solace with an expression of distress on his face.

Jake raised an eyebrow at Will "Hey bud, what's up?"

Will didn't answer, simply flopping face down onto the nearest bunk. He stayed like that for a while before turning over and speaking as fast as humanly possible.

"Okay so there's this new boy at camp and he's my age and he just came here with his sister and he seems really nice and he's really excited and bouncy and bubbly and I really want to be his friend but I don't know what to say because what if he gets weirded out by me or something and I don't want him to think that cuz I really really really really want to be his friend because he seems so nice and cool and he loves to play mythomagic so I was thinking maybe he could teach me and I could teach him pokemon and we could both play and have fun and..." Will abruptly stopped talking and grabbed a pillow, shoving it in his face.

Nico stared at the memory in shock, realizing he was the boy Will was talking about. Once the information sunk in he had to stifle a laugh and continued to watch the scene play out.

Jake laughed "Looks like someone's got a crush~" he teased and swiftly dodged the pillow Will threw at him.

The 11 year old was trying to glare at Jake, although he was blushing slightly "I do not! Love is icky!" He said making a face. 

Nico and Jake both burst into laughter at Will's antics.

Jake comfortingly patted Will's head and smiled at him "Just talk to him Will, be yourself and I'm sure this kid will like you." 

Nico turned to Apollo with a bright smile which Apollo returned, holding out his hand again 

"Ready to go back?" He asked. Nico nodded and took Apollo's hand, anxious to see Will again and watched as the memory faded when they left. 

\--------------------------------

Nico opened his eyes for the last time and sighed happily seeing his same old cabin, his same old bed, and his same alive and peaceful boyfriend.

He turned to Apollo who said a silent goodbye before disappearing. Nico crawled into the bed and pulled Will close to him, kissing his head gently so as not to wake him. Nico smiled at his boyfriend and to himself before falling asleep, feeling completely at peace with himself after so long.


End file.
